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PanARMENIAN.Net – Armenian grandmaster Levon Aronianwill participate in Grand Slam Chess Masters tournament due September 3-8 in Shanghai.

Aronian will rival Vladimir Kramnik, Aleksei Shirov and Wang Hao.

Two winners will further be joined by Magnus Carlsen and Viswanathan Anand for the four-player final in Bilbao (October 9-15).

Meanwhile, grandmasters Ashot Anastasyan and Avetik Grigoryan finished 4th and 5th in Abu-Dhabi open tournament hosting 26 participants. Anastasyan and Grigoryan scored 5,5 points each out of 9 possible. Hovhannes Gabuzyan came 17th, with 4 points to his score.

Anton Korobov of Ukraine won the tournament gold with 6,5 points, armchess.am reported

Levon Aronian to participate in Grand Slam Chess Masters

A Nimble Chess Artist

The former U.S. champion Hikaru Nakamura is fast. The quicker the pace on the chessboard, the more he seems to enjoy playing. His nimble skills helped him to secure a place for the next traditional Amber tournament, a blindfold and rapid chess extravaganza played every spring on the French Riviera.

Competing at the NH tournament in Amsterdam, Nakamura, 22, led the Rising Stars to a 26-24 victory over the chess veterans, the Experience team, on Sunday. Another member of the winning team, the young Dutch champion Anish Giri, 16, had an identical 6-4 score as Hikaru, but only one could qualify for the Amber tournament. In the blitz playoff, Nakamura defeated Giri 2-0, ensuring a spot among the world’s best chess stars next March in Nice. The Israeli grandmaster Boris Gelfand from the Experience team posted the best overall result in Amsterdam with a 7-3 score.

Nakamura played the most bizarre game against Loek Van Wely, who loves sharp variations of the Najdorf Sicilian. As it happened to him in the past, after tilting at windmills, the Dutchman was blown away by the force of the winds. He brought the defeat on himself. Following the game Smith – Laznicka from this year’s World Open, Van Wely’s hand was faster than his brain and he made a losing blunder. But why did he chose to play this variation at all?

Apparently, Van Wely was commenting on Laznicka’s victory for the magazine New In Chess, but his analysis must have been very superficial. He only needed to check my analysis of the game to see that there was something awkward with Black’s position even after the best defense.

I am returning to it in my comments, enhanced by Deep Fritz 12.
I am sure, Nakamura was prepared for the alternatives, but after Van Wely’s mistake, he won in a mere 17 moves.

Nakamura – Van Wely
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 Nbd7 7.f4
(The sharpest line. The game Giri-Gelfand, played in the same round in Amsterdam, went: 7.Bc4 Qb6 8.Bb3 e6 9.Bxf6 Nxf6 10.f4 e5 11.Ba4+! [After 11...Bd7 12.Bxd7+ Black loses the control of the light squares.] 11…Ke7!? 12.Nde2 exf4 13.Bb3 Be6 14.Nd4 g6 15.Qd2 Bh6 16.0-0-0 Bxb3 17.axb3 Rhc8 18.h4 Rxc3 19.Qxc3 f3+ 20.Kb1 fxg2 and Black had good compenstaion for the exchange a drew in 41 moves.)
7…Qb6 8.Qd2 Qxb2 9.Rb1 Qa3 10.Bxf6 Nxf6 11.e5 dxe5!?
(Laznicka’s new try. I analyzed his game against Smith in the Huffington Post chess column already on July 6. The verdict was not very good for Black and one can only wonder why would Van Wely repeat the line.)
12.fxe5

12…Nd7?
(A losing blunder. Laznicka played the only move 12…Ng4!? but after 13.Nd5 Qc5! [Not 13...Qxa2 14.Nc7+ Kd7 15.Nde6+ Kc6 16.Qc3+ Qc4 17.Qxc4+ Kd7 18.Rd1# Benyovszki-Jalyl,IECC email 2000.] 14.Nb3 Qc6 Nakamura didn’t have to play Smith’s 15.Na5, but he could have checked my analysis, this time enhanced by Deep Fritz 12:

15.Qa5!? b6 [After 15...f5 16.Nd4 Qh6 17.Nc7+ Kf7 18.Bc4+ Kg6 19.Qb6+ e6 20.Ndxe6 wins.] and here White has two possibilities to get an advantage:
a) The fancy 16.Bb5!?

16…axb5 (16…Qxb5 17.Nc7+ Kd7 18.Qxb5+ axb5 19.Nxa8) 17.Qxa8 Qxa8 18.Nc7+ Kd7 19.Nxa8
a1) 19…Bb7 20.Rd1+ Kc6 21.Nd4+ Kc5 22.Nc7 and White has a clear advantage, for example 22…Ne3 23.Rd3 Nxg2+ 24.Kf2 Nf4 25.Nb3+ wins; or 22…Nxe5 23.0-0 g6 24.Nce6+ wins.
a2) 19…e6 20.Nxb6+ Kc7 21.Nxc8+-;
a3) 19…Kc6 20.Nd4+ Kb7 21.Nxb6 Kxb6 22.Rxb5+ Kc7 [22...Ka6 23.Ke2 Nxe5 24.Rhb1+- wins.] 23.0-0 Bd7 24.Rc5+ Kb6 25.e6 fxe6 26.Rc3 and black gets mated.)
b)16.Nd4!? bxa5 17.Nxc6 e6 18.Nc7+ Kd7 19.Nxa8 Kxc6 20.Rb6+ and I am pretty sure that Nakamura had a look at this position. White is better. )
13.Nd5 Qc5 14.Nb3 Qc6 15.Na5 Qc5 16.Nxb7 Qc6?
(Loses beautifully, but black was in dire straits anyway: 16…Bxb7 17.Rxb7 Rc8 [After 17...Qc6 18.Nc7+ Kd8 19.Nxa8 Qxb7 20.Qa5+ White wins.] 18.Bxa6 e6 19.Bb5 or 19.Nf6+ Nxf6 20.Bb5+ Qxb5 21.Rxb5 Nd5 22.0-0, winning.)

17.Rb6!! (An amazing punch, deflecting the black knight. White wins the queen since after 17…Nxb6 18.Nf6+! exf6 19.Qd8 White mates.) Black resigned.

more of “A Nimble Chess Artist” from The Huffington Post

LivinginPeru.com
Isabel Guerra

The President of the International Federation of Chess, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, identified Peru as one of the most important countries, after highlighting the results achieved by the Peruvian representatives, that became champions in the last tournament held in Brazil.

“I wanted to come to Peru long ago, to see by myself the work that is being done here and that now gets so excellent results for Peru worldwide,” said Ilyumzhinov, according to Peru21.

In Aug. 7, Peru achieved the Panamerican Championship by the sixth time, with the highest record in the history of this tournament: 172 accumulated points.

Peru left behind Ecuador, and Venezuela, that ranked second and third respectively.

original: http://www.livinginperu.com/news-12969-sports-president-international-chess-federation-praises-perus-results

The FIDE elections seem to be galloping towards a spectacular finish as we observe the two candidates for President, the incumbent Kirsan Ilyumzhinov and Anatoly Karpov campaigning through the Caribbean and the world, to make an impact upon voter countries. Each country has one vote and FIDE comprises 165 member nations.

Guyana, I believe, is the latest country to join the FIDE family of nations, as we only became a member in January of this year.

But we are still entitled to vote in the FIDE elections, in keeping with the one country, one vote policy, of the World Chess Federation. For several years there have been complaints and laments about small federations having the same say and the same one vote at the FIDE Congress.

Some of the more developed countries and the ones with large populations are of the view that there is some injustice in this. But the universal criterion of one country, one vote, still applies. Small federations embrace this current system, because they would continue to stand on the same platform as the other powerful nations of the world.

The chess federations of Guyana, Jamaica, the Netherland Antilles and Suriname have signed an agreement calling for the creation of a Caribbean Chess Union (CCU) to represent the region in negotiations in the international arena among the powerful chess-playing nations. A larger meeting of Caribbean federations to discuss policy for a CCU is being organised. This initiative by Guyana resulted from the fact that for the FIDE elections, each chess-playing nation within the region is compelled to negotiate for benefits on its own behalf. With a CCU, we can speak with a unified voice for our bloc of votes, and negotiate from a position of strength. As it stands now, we are fragmented, and certainly, would not have a great impact during our negotiations as individuals.

In a regional body also, we can attract strong international sponsorship for tournaments within the Caribbean. For example, the CCU would ensure greater transparency with sponsorship funds, and its accounts department would have full responsibility for funds coming in and going out.

One of Guyana’s premier chessplayers, Taffin Khan, is currently representing the nation in chess in Trinidad and Tobago. Taffin’s results have been fair so far at the midway stage of the tournament, and his full results will be made public when he returns.

Tournament Director Irshad Mohamed is also in Trinidad doing service as the Deputy Arbiter at the Umada Cup. Irshad is seeking his second arbiter norm in Trinidad. He obtained his first at the FIDE-rated tournament which was held in Guyana in July. Irshad hopes to achieve his third and final norm at our National Chess Championships which would be FIDE-rated, and which are scheduled for October-November of this year.

http://www.stabroeknews.com/2010/features/08/22/working-towards-a-caribbean-chess-union/

Marriages among top chess players are not common, but they are not as rare as they once were because more women play chess now than did 20 or 30 years ago.

Sometimes the marriages are between players of different nationalities, but once they marry and settle down, they often play in the championships of the same country — competing for the men’s and women’s titles.

Under such circumstances, it is possible that a husband-wife team might win the national championships in the same year — becoming a country’s unofficial chess royalty. It happened in 2008 when Bartosz and Monika Socko swept the Polish championships, and in 1994 when Praveen and Bhagyashree Thipsay were the champions of India.

Saturday, it happened in France. Laurent Fressinet won the overall championship and Almira Skripchenko won the women’s title. It was the first title for Fressinet and the fourth for Skripchenko, who also won in 2004, 2005 and 2006.

Skripchenko is originally from Moldova, but she moved to France and married Joel Lautier, another grandmaster and former French champion, in 1997. Though she and Lautier subsequently divorced, she remained in France and married Fressinet in 2007.

Skripchenko had the easier road to the title. She was the top-ranked female player and won by 1.5 points, getting off to a great start by beating Maria Leconte, one of her closest rivals, in Round 1.

Fressinet was the No. 2 seed in his field, behind Etienne Bacrot. But it was Romain Edouard, the No. 4 seed, who took the early lead. He played efficiently and at times brilliantly, including a demolition of Vladislav Tkachiev, the 2006 and 2009 champion, in the penultimate round. Fressinet caught and briefly passed Romain with a spurt of three consecutive victories in Rounds 7, 8 and 9, beginning with a win over Matthieu Cornette.

Fressinet and Romain tied for first, a point ahead of Bacrot. Fressinet then beat Romain in a two-game playoff for the title.

http://gambit.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/22/an-unusual-double-husband-and-wife-win-french-chess-championships/

The Minister for Sport and Leisure, the Hon Edwin J Reyes, is pleased to announce that as part of the support Government is providing to Chess in Gibraltar, and the Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival in particular, it was arranged for a representative of the Gibraltar Tourist Board to attend, for the first time, the British Chess Championships at the University of Kent in Canterbury to promote the Gibraltar Chess Championships. The Tourist Board’s role at the event was to offer promotional literature and information to tournament competitors and encourage their participation in the Gibraltar event.

The British Chess Championships also saw the launch of the 2011 Tradewise
Gibraltar Chess Festival, which will be held from Monday 24th January to Thursday 3rd February 2011.

Now in its 9th consecutive year, the Gibraltar Chess Festival is expected to attract over 5,000 room nights in Gibraltar from over 50 destinations.
The website for the 2011 tournament has now been launched and may be viewed at http://www.gibraltarchesscongress.com. Tournament brochures and entry forms may be downloaded from the website in PDF and word formats. The website also has full details of the travel and hotel arrangements for next year and contact details for getting in touch with the organisers and hotels. A high level of activity is expected on the official website with more than half a million individual site visits.

This year’s festival, thanks to sponsorship contributions attracted by the organisers, will also see the total prize money increase by 10% to £126,000, with £6000 being allocated to new rating prizes and further increases to the top prizes for the open and women competitors.

original source:

Gibraltar Represented At The British Chess Championships In Canterbury